|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Mar 12, 2023 2:41:18 GMT 1
More on the breaking news....
|
|
|
|
Post by dhk1989 on Mar 13, 2023 0:19:52 GMT 1
Wow....did not see that coming.
|
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Mar 15, 2023 1:24:25 GMT 1
Apologies for the delay in posting this Crockett Cup update! Meant to do so yesterday, but real life stuff came up (you know how that stuff goes).
Anyway, here are the results of the Qualifying/Play-In Tournament.
The winners of Bracket A are Kaientai. 
The winners of Bracket B are The Rock 'n' Roll Express. That means the it will be Gedo & Jado vs. Kaientai vs. The Bad Street Boyz vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express in a Four-Way Elimination Match to determine the final spot in the Crockett Cup. Ultimately, when the dust settled, Kaientai would emerge victorious to claim that final spot.
One little aside: I kinda screwed up the scheduling of the tournament, in that I actually had to start the main tournament before this qualifying tournament had finished. Luckily, I made sure the winner of the play-in tournament would be in one of the last first round matches, so they still had a little bit of time between the aforementioned Four-Way and the first round.
|
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Mar 21, 2023 2:25:46 GMT 1
Here it is....the results from the 2001 Crockett Cup (minus the Final of course):
So the Finals of the 2001 Crockett Cup will be a rematch from the Finals of the 2000 Crockett Cup. Can Bret and Owen make it two in a row, or can Edge and Christian defeat their Canadian idols in the biggest match of their careers? Find out next week when I drop my post on Halloween Havoc!
Additionally, if you're wondering about the bye in the upper right quadrant, the match with Booker T and Kurt Angle vs. The Steiners ended in a No Contest after the two teams spilled onto the floor and brawled throughout the arena (with the match being called off a few minutes later). Little bit of a teaser, but that brawl will help set up the WCW World Heavyweight Title bout at Halloween Havoc (more on that later). Rhino and Yoshihiro Tajiri ended up being the beneficiaries of the bye.
|
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Mar 29, 2023 4:56:14 GMT 1
Part XLVI: WCW Halloween Havoc 2001
To start off, I want to apologize for not getting this post up sooner. I had planned to get this up on Monday Night, but various circumstances here at home prevented that from happening.So the bulk of the time between Fall Brawl and Halloween Havoc was spent on the 2001 Crockett Cup, with all of the matches from the play-in tournament and the main tournament itself. I've posted the brackets and the results throughout the last few weeks, so I don't need to go over that again. Halloween Havoc will host the Finals, which will see Edge and Christian go up against The Hart Family, in a rematch from the 2000 Crockett Cup Finals. A number of matches on this PPV were set up through the Crockett Cup, so it's worth going over those first. In the first round, The Steiner Brothers went up against Booker T and Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle, but the match ended in a No Contest after the two sides wouldn't stop brawling on the floor. Clearly, the issues between Kurt Angle and Scott Steiner weren't settled after Angle won the title at Fall Brawl. Booker T would start to have issues with Big Poppa Pump as a result of this brawl, and after coming out on the winning side of a series of matches with Diamond Dallas Page (more on that later), he would establish himself as a contender. A fourth competitor who would also thrown his name into the mix is Chris Benoit. While he was still competing in the Crockett Cup alongside Radicalz stablemate Chris Jericho, Benoit would challenge Angle (who, of course, was already eliminated from the Crockett Cup) to a Relaxed Rules Match on the October 15th edition of Nitro. In my version of WCW, a Relaxed Rules Match is a match where there are No Rope Breaks (similar to a Pure Rules Match in ROH when a wrestler runs out of rope breaks), and the Count Out is increased from a Ten Count to a Twenty Count. Thanks to some involvement from Scott Steiner, Benoit was able to pick up the win over Angle, thus staking his claim to a title shot. So with three contenders on the horizon, Angle decided to take on all challengers (like the fighting babyface he is), and a Four-Way Match for the title was made official for the PPV.Another Four-Way Match that came out of the Crockett Cup involved the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles. The setup for this match was....EXTREMELY straightforward. In the first round of the Crockett Cup, The Dudley Boyz scored a huge victory over current title holders The Hardy Boyz. Then, in the second round, The Dudley Boyz lost to Mike Awesome and The Giant. Finally, in the Quarter Finals, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall defeated Mike Awesome and The Giant. With The Outsiders then being eliminated in the Semifinals, it set the stage for a big title match at the PPV, involving the three teams mentioned plus defending champions The Hardy Boyz. Again....a pretty simple setup.
Two men that didn't participate in the Crockett Cup were AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, two of the top names in the Cruiserweight Division. After winning the WCW Cruiserweight Title back from Daniels at Fall Brawl, Styles would have a quick turnaround, as he successfully defended his title against Rey Mysterio Jr. in a Dream Match on Nitro after Fall Brawl on September 24th. Daniels would challenge Styles to a rematch for the October 1st Nitro. That bout appeared to go as normal for the most part. However, late in the bout, referee Allison Danger would slip Daniels a weapon in the form of a small chain. Daniels would use the chain, and then rolled up Styles with handful of tights while Danger did a fast count. Daniels and Danger had cheated Styles out of the WCW Cruiserweight Title, with Danger officially turning heel. The duo (along with the rest of the Triple X Prophecy) would celebrate on the following Thunder, with Daniels revealing that Allison Danger had been a plant from the very beginning. This did not sit well with the members of the WCW Championship Committee, and the celebration was interrupted by Rowdy Roddy Piper, who stripped Daniels of the WCW Cruiserweight Title, and announced that a new champion would be crowned at Halloween Havoc in a Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold (essentially the same version that TNA has used over the years, where it's a Royal Rumble until the final two, where it becomes a normal match with pins and submissions). AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels will be two of the entrants, with the other twenty-eight entrants listed alphabetically below. Who will emerge as the new holder of the WCW Cruiserweight Title?!- Billy Kidman- Chavo Guerrero Jr.- Dean Malenko- Elix Skipper- Hector Garza- Hurricane Helms- Jamie Noble- Jerry Lynn- Jimmy Yang- Joey Matthews- Jushin Thunder Liger- Juventud Guerrera- Kaz Hayashi- Kristian York- Lance Storm- Little Guido- Low Ki- Psychosis- Rey Mysterio Jr.- Shark Boy- Shinjiro Otani- Sho Funaki- Spike Dudley- Super Crazy- Taka Michinoku- Tony Mamaluke- Ultimo Dragon- Yoshihiro TajiriAnother title that would be on the line at Halloween Havoc would be the WCW United States Title. The rivalry between Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam has been ongoing since Jericho won the WCW United States Title back in August. In addition to holding that title, Jericho also continued to defend the WCW Full Throttle Title on Saturday Night. He would have successful title defenses against Curt Hennig (September 29th at Kansas), Christian (October 13th at Martinsville), Bobby Eaton (October 20th at Talladega), and Konnan (October 27th at Phoenix). Jericho's first major roadblock during this title reign came against Sting on October 6th on Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. The match went the title limit, meaning that Jericho had retained. However, with no truly definitive winner, Dusty Rhodes ruled later on in the show that Jericho would defend the title against Sting again on the October 8th Nitro, with No Time Limit! Jericho would retain via shenanigans, and just as The Radicalz had Sting surrounded, Rob Van Dam would make the save. He challenged Jericho to a 2/3 Falls Match for the WCW United States Title on the PPV, and the match was made. Jericho would gain the upper hand on the October 22nd Nitro when he and Chris Benoit defeated Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn, thanks to some help from Don Callis, to advance to the Semifinals of the Crockett Cup. However, Van Dam would get a measure of revenge later on that night when he prevented Callis from getting involved in the Crockett Cup Semifinal with Benoit and Jericho against Edge and Christian (which was won by the latter). Can Van Dam regain the WCW United States Title, or will Jericho escape Las Vegas still a double champion?A major grudge match on this PPV card sees Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg doing battle in a Las Vegas Death Match. Of course, these two have had issues that date all the way back to Page's original heel turn earlier in the year (which occurred against Goldberg). On the September 24th Nitro, Page would cost Goldberg a #1 Contender's Three-Way Match that also involved Kevin Nash and Rob Van Dam (Nash won and would be unsuccessful in his bid to win Kurt Angle's Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title on the September 27th Thunder). With both men not involved in the Crockett Cup, the Las Vegas Death Match was announced for Halloween Havoc well in advance. In the meantime, Page would have a series of matches against Booker T, who's also had issues with Page that date all the way back to the first part of 2001. Booker T would defeat Page on the aforementioned September 27th Thunder in a singles match, while Page would defeat Booker T in a Steel Cage Match on the October 1st edition of Nitro. Finally, the two would have a Falls Count Anywhere Match on the October 6th Saturday Night, which ended up being very memorable as the two brawled into the NASCAR Winston Cup Series garage area. They ended up back in the ring, and just as Page seemed to be on the verge of victory, Goldberg speared him out of nowhere. This allowed Booker T to capitalize and pick up the win. With the stage being set for Las Vegas, who will come out on top in the latest chapter of the Diamond Dallas Page/Goldberg rivalry?There are two other title matches to go over on this Halloween Havoc PPV. The first of those is Rhino vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Finally, after going through all of the brutal trials that The Radicalz made him go through, Ric Flair is finally getting his shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Title. However, he has a tough task ahead of him in the form of The Man-Beast, who's held the Ten Pounds Of Gold for nearly five months. Can Flair win back the title he made famous, or will Rhino turn back the challenge from The Nature Boy?Aja Kong has been a dominant force since winning the WCW Women's Title in April, with successful title defenses in both WCW and the GAEA promotion in Japan. Amy Dumas, who has held the WCW Women's Title on three prior occasions, wanted to win the title for an unprecedented fourth time, and after winning a #1 Contender's Battle Royal on the October 15th Nitro, the challenge was issued by Dumas. She wanted Aja Kong the very next week on the October 22nd Nitro....in a Steel Cage! The bout (sandwiched in between the Quarter Finals and the Semifinals of the Crockett Cup) was definitely a memorable one, with Dumas taking a brutal beating at points from Aja Kong. However, she was able to overcome, and nailed a HUGE moonsault off the top of the Steel Cage to capture the WCW Women's Title! While it was a joyous night for her, the celebrations would be short-lived. The Duchess Of Dudleyville would interrupt an Amy Dumas promo on the October 25th Thunder, and wound up attacking her. Thus, the title match was set up for Halloween Havoc. After overcoming Aja Kong in a brutal war, can Amy Dumas bounce back and defend her title six days later, or will The Duchess Of Dudleyville take advantage of a weakened champion?The final bout on the PPV sees the return of Mitsuharu Misawa from Pro Wrestling NOAH, as he takes part in a special six-man tag that will see him team with Andrew Martin and Sting against The Radicalz trio of Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Raven. Not much else of note here. Just a showcase match featuring one of the top stars from Japan.Before finally getting to the results of the PPV, there are a few title changes to go over. The WCW Hardcore Title saw two different title changes since Fall Brawl. Andrew Martin won the title from Big Vito on the September 24th Nitro, while Eddie Guerrero would win the title from Martin a few weeks later on the October 15th Nitro (so that does give a little bit of background to the aforementioned Six-Man Tag). Meanwhile, the NWA World Tag Team Titles changed hands. On the October 27th Saturday Night from Phoenix International Raceway, Sabu and The Sandman won the titles from AJ Styles and Rey Mysterio Jr. after winning a #1 Contender's Match on the previous Thunder on October 25th.With all of that backstory out of the way, let's dive right into the PPV!
WCW Halloween Havoc 2001October 28th, 2001 - MGM Grand Garden Arena - Las Vegas, Nevada1.) WCW Women's Title - Amy Dumas (c) def. The Duchess Of Dudleyville2.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold - Winner: Christopher Daniels3.) Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match - The Hardy Boyz (c) def. Mike Awesome & The Giant, The Dudley Boyz, & The Outsiders4.) NWA World Heavyweight Title - Rhino (c) def. Ric Flair5.) Six-Man Tag - Andrew Martin, Mitsuharu Misawa, & Sting def. Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, & Raven6.) WCW United States Title - 2/3 Falls Match - Chris Jericho (c) def. Rob Van Dam7.) 2001 Crockett Cup - Finals - Edge & Christian def. The Hart Family (Bret Hart & Owen Hart)8.) Las Vegas Death Match - Diamond Dallas Page def. Goldberg9.) Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title - Four-Way Match - Kurt Angle (c) def. Booker T, Chris Benoit, & Scott SteinerFor Halloween Havoc 2001, I got an overall score of 92%, which is up 2% from Fall Brawl 2001. The battle for Match Of The Night was very tight, but the edge (no pun intended) goes to the Finals of the 2001 Crockett Cup with Edge and Christian vs. The Hart Family, which earned a score of 99%. That bout narrowly beat Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam in a 2/3 Falls Match for the WCW United States Title, which got a score of 98%. Two excellent matches right there. Three other matches scored in the low 90% range. Rhino vs. Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title wound up with a score of 92% (with a 99% crowd reaction), while both Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg in a Las Vegas Death Match (with a 100% crowd reaction) and the Fatal Four-Way Match for Kurt Angle's WCW World Heavyweight Title (with a 95% crowd reaction) earned a 91% score. There was actually a bit of a drop-off from there, with the best of the first three matches being the Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles, which finished with an 86% score. Not too far behind was the Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold for the vacant WCW Cruiserweight Title, which earned a score of 83%. Finally, Amy Dumas vs. The Duchess Of Dudleyville for the WCW Women's Title wound up with a 74% score, which was the worst match of the night.
As a whole, this was another PPV that I thought turned out really well. Obviously, based on the results, you can see that many of the matches performed very strongly. In a move that might be a surprise, there were no title changes on this show, aside from the WCW Cruiserweight Title, which was vacant going into the night. Despite all the other Cruiserweights involved, the final two would be AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels, with the latter emerging victorious. Even with that result, it's safe to say the issues between these career rivals are far from over. Ric Flair came VERY close to winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title, but was unable to overcome Rhino. Meanwhile, Rob Van Dam also came very close to winning the WCW United States Title, but once again, Chris Jericho found a way to win in the third and final fall. Amy Dumas, The Hardy Boyz, and Kurt Angle would all be successful in the respective title defenses, while interference from The Jersey Triad would lead to Diamond Dallas Page getting the win over Goldberg. Finally, after an incredible tag team encounter, Edge and Christian would defeat Bret Hart and Owen Hart to win the 2001 Crockett Cup. Certainly a huge moment for those two, as well as a bit of redemption after coming up short the year prior. Winning such a massive tournament will certainly put them back in the conversation for the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles.
That's all for Halloween Havoc 2001! Tune in next time, when a brand new PPV takes up the November slot.....United We Stand! |
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Apr 26, 2023 2:50:58 GMT 1
Look for the United We Stand post to be out sometime this weekend.
|
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on May 1, 2023 4:52:25 GMT 1
Part XLVII: WCW United We Stand 2001
I'm getting this latest post in right before my self-imposed deadline (it should be posted just before midnight Eastern Time when the calendar turns from April to May), but better late than never I guess! If I end up REALLY running up against the clock, I'll add images as I go, so refresh this thread in an hour or so, and it should be fully updated.As you can see, I'm introducing a new PPV name right at the tail end of 2001....United We Stand. Of course, we're just over two months removed from the horrific terrorist attacks on 9/11, and with this PPV taking place in Washington, D.C. (one of the cities impacted by the attacks), it only makes sense for this November PPV to be titled United We Stand (this was a phrase going around a lot post-September 11th as well, if I recall correctly). I believe I've mentioned this in previous posts, but I do plan on switching some of the PPVs around. Starting in 2002, Fall Brawl will be in the November slot, while United We Stand will move to the September PPV slot, taking place either the week after of two weeks after the 9/11 Anniversary.The main event of this PPV features the culmination of a rivalry that's been raging throughout 2001. After not being pinned in the Four-Way Match at Halloween Havoc, Chris Benoit wanted another shot at Kurt Angle's Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title. Angle, being the fighting champion that he is, accepted Benoit's challenge, stating that he wanted to decide once and for all who the better wrestler was. The two would face off in a Mystery Partners Tag Team Match on the November 5th Nitro, where the winner would get to pick the stipulation of their PPV bout. Chris Benoit picked Radicalz stablemate Yoshihiro Tajiri, while Kurt Angle picked a longtime rival of Tajiri....Super Crazy. This incredible tag team encounter came to an end with Benoit scoring the win over Angle, and afterwards, Benoit declared that he wanted Angle in an Ultimate Submission Match (basically an Thirty Minute Iron Man Match where only Submission Count). With that, the match was set for United We Stand. These two have faced off in many forms (singles, tags, and other multi-person matches) over the course of 2001. Who will come out on top as arguably two of the best wrestlers on the planet go at it one more time?Speaking of the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title, United We Stand would play a notable role in deciding who would be the title challenger at Starrcade. Following Halloween Havoc, it was decided by the WCW Championship Committee (Dusty Rhodes, JJ Dillon, & Rowdy Roddy Piper) that a tournament would be held to decide who would face either Kurt Angle or Chris Benoit at Starrcade....the WCW Tournament Of Champions. Now, this tournament would feature twenty-four (24) participants (split into three eight-person brackets), meaning that the Finals will be a Three-Way (the elimination variation, not the one-fall variation). The unique twist to this tournament is that it was open....primarily....to former World Champions. It doesn't matter what company they were a World Champion in....just as long as they were a former World Champion at some point. There would be twenty-three former World Champions entered, with the twenty-fourth entrant being decided by a Wild Card Battle Royal, which was won by Andrew Martin (Nobody in the Battle Royal was a former World Champion). I'm not going to go list every single participant, as you'll see that in the tournament lineup below, but it'll be easy to tell that all of them have won World Titles in either WCW, WWF, and/or ECW. I will go out of my way to mention two of the competitors quickly, as they're special cases. The first of those is....Jimmy Snuka. Yes, you read that right. Superfly himself (the very first ECW World Champion) is making a brief appearance in WCW. In the moment, I guess I decided to play off the fact that he did have that one match in WCW in 2000. That was really it lol. Fortunately, he makes a quick first round exit. The other one I want to mention is Randy Savage. While I did let his contract run out towards the end of 2000, I decided to sign him again a few months later, but to a per-date contract....essentially just using him in one-off instances like this.Anyway, here are the three brackets. The three semi-final matches will take place on United We Stand, with the Three-Way Finals taking place the following night on the November 26th Nitro. I've highlighted the three semi-final bouts in bold.Bracket A
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Rob Van Dam / Sabu vs. Sting || Eddie Guerrero vs. Jimmy Snuka / Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Mike Awesome
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting / Eddie Guerrero vs. Mike Awesome
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mike Awesome
Bracket B
Booker T vs. Taz / Raven vs. Terry Funk || Andrew Martin vs. Scott Steiner / The Giant vs. The Sandman
Booker T vs. Raven / Scott Steiner vs. The Giant
Booker T vs. Scott Steiner
Bracket C
Goldberg vs. Owen Hart / Ric Flair vs. Ron Killings || Kevin Nash vs. Randy Savage / Bret Hart vs. Tommy Dreamer
Goldberg vs. Ric Flair / Kevin Nash vs. Bret Hart
Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash Coming off of the 2001 edition of the Crockett Cup, the tag team division in WCW is arguably the hottest it's ever been. Edge and Christian won the 2001 Crockett Cup, but instead of requesting their title shot on this PPV, they decided that they were going to cash it in on the December 3rd edition of Nitro, which is set to take place in their hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, the road to December 3rd would prove to be a little rougher than Edge and Christian anticipated. They, along with the other members of Team Canada (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, and Andrew Martin, who reconnected with the group after his babyface turn earlier this year) started having issues with The Natural Born Thrillers, who wanted the title shot that Edge and Christian rightfully earned. The Natural Born Thrillers eventually challenged Team Canada to a Unit Disband Match at the PPV, which Team Canada accepted. It should be noted that The Natural Born Thrillers were on a bit of a losing streak going into this match, so it's fair to say that Team Canada were the HEAVY favorites going into this one.
Meanwhile, the issues between The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz continued following Halloween Havoc, and this would lead to a Steel Cage Match between the two teams for the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles at United We Stand. Not much else to say. It's The Hardy Boyz. It's The Dudley Boyz. You know what you're going to get.
The month of November was a very important one for Chris Jericho, as he closed in on his final set of defenses of the WCW Full Throttle Title. On the November 3rd Saturday Night, Jericho retained over Hurricane Helms at Rockingham in North Carolina. On November 10th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida, Jericho retained over The Demon....aka The Kiss Demon....aka Dale Torborg, who made his debut several weeks prior (he picked up a couple of wins over lower card talent, and the match was mainly placed here because NASCAR driver Sterling Marlin was running a special Kiss paint scheme in that weekend's race).
The final obstacle for Jericho to overcome was Jeff Hardy, and he defeated him on the November 17th Saturday Night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With that, Jericho had officially ended the first season of WCW Saturday Night/NASCAR crossover as the WCW Full Throttle Champion. He won the title back in July, and never lost it, as he had successful title defenses every single week (EIGHTEEN defenses in total). This means that Jericho has secured himself a shot at the Undisputed WCW Word Heavyweight Title. However, one person who he was still having issues with while he reached this milestone was Rob Van Dam. Despite beating Van Dam at Halloween Havoc, Jericho felt it necessary to interject himself into Van Dam's Tournament Of Champions match against Diamond Dallas Page, and that led to Van Dam's defeat via a Diamond Cutter. The continuing conflict between the two would set up an Eight-Man Tag for the PPV, with Jericho getting Radicalz stablemates Eddie Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero Jr., and Lance Storm to team with him, while Van Dam had Rey Mysterio Jr., Billy Kidman, and John Cena backing him up.
That wouldn't be the only time that Diamond Dallas Page would win a match in the Tournament Of Champions thanks to interference. After retaining his NWA World Heavyweight Title against Ric Flair at Halloween Havoc, Rhino decided to go after someone that Flair knows very well in the form of Sting. Rhino and Sabu helped Radicalz stablemate Diamond Dallas Page defeat Sting in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Naturally, Flair would later come to Sting's defense, and this would all lead to a Tag Team Street Fight at the PPV. A victory for Flair and Sting would certainly put both men back in the conversation for the Ten Pounds Of Gold, but they would have to overcome a formidable duo in the form of Rhino and Sabu, who will put their bodies on the line to inflict as much damage as possible.
The final match I have to discuss is Amy Dumas vs. Lisa Marie Varon for the WCW Women's Title. After Dumas successfully retained her title a rematch with The Duchess Of Dudleyville (a Tables Match on the November 3rd Saturday Night), Lisa Marie Varon and Luna Vachon made it clear that one of them was going to take that title from her. Dumas would retain over Vachon on the November 19th Nitro, but that only meant she would have to deal with Varon only six days later. Who will come out on top in this battle for the WCW Women's Title?
Now it's time to go over the title changes since the last PPV, and there are quite a few. First up is the Undisputed WCW World Title. Jeff Hardy won the title from Edge in a Three-Way that also included Bubba Ray Dudley on the November 3rd Saturday Night (an especially big win for Jeff since it happened in North Carolina). Jeff's title reign was short-lived, however, as William Regal won the title from Jeff in a match on the November 19th Nitro. Another title that saw a number of title changes was the WCW Hardcore Title. Matt Hardy won the title from Eddie Guerrero in a Three-Way Hardcore Match that also featured Christian on the aforementioned November 3rd Saturday Night (a big night for The Hardy Boyz on the whole). Christian then won the title from Matt on the November 12th Nitro....only to lose it three days later to Bubba Ray Dudley on the November 15th Thunder. It was a longer title reign than Christian's reign, but not by much, as Bubba Ray would go on to lose the title to Hurricane Helms (thanks to an assist from The Hardy Boyz) on the November 22nd Thunder.
Finally, I just want to note that Mitsuharu Misawa from Pro Wrestling NOAH had a few more matches in the month since the last PPV. He defeated Bret Hart in a singles match on the October 29th Nitro, and then teamed with both members of The Hart Family (Bret and Owen) to defeat The Natural Born Thrillers on the November 1st Thunder.
With all of that out of the way, let's dive right into the results from the PPV!
WCW United We Stand 2001November 25th, 2001 - MCI Center - Washington, D.C.1.) WCW Women's Title - Lisa Marie Varon def. Amy Dumas (c)2.) Eight-Man Tag - Billy Kidman, John Cena, Rey Mysterio Jr., & Rob Van Dam, def. The Radicalz (Los Guerreros [Eddie Guerrero & Chave Guerrero Jr.] & The Thrillseekers [WCW United States Champion Chris Jericho & Lance Storm])3.) WCW Tournament Of Champions - Semi-Finals - Diamond Dallas Page def. Mike Awesome4.) Tag Team Street Fight - Ric Flair & Sting def. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Rhino & Sabu5.) WCW Tournament Of Champions - Semi-Finals - Scott Steiner def. Booker T6.) Ten-Man Tag - Losing Faction Must Disband - Team Canada (Andrew Martin, Bret Hart, Christian, Edge, & Owen Hart with Trish Stratus) def. The Natural Born Thrillers (Chuck Palumbo, Mark Jindrak, Mike Sanders, Sean O'Haire, & Shawn Stasiak with Curt Hennig)7.) WCW Tournament Of Champions - Semi-Finals - Goldberg def. Kevin Nash8.) Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles - Steel Cage Match - The Dudley Boyz def. The Hardy Boyz (c)9.) Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title - Ultimate Submission Match - Kurt Angle (c) def. Chris BenoitFor United We Stand 2001, I got an overall score of 89%, which is down three percent from Halloween Havoc 2001, which got 92%. A drop for sure, but fortunately not a large one. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit in an Ultimate Submission Match for the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title earned an incredible score of 99%, making it the runaway Match Of The Night winner for this PPV. The next-closest match was, interestingly enough, Booker T vs. Scott Steiner, which wound up with a 93% score (with a 100% crowd reaction). The only other bout to reach the 90% mark was The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz in a Steel Cage Match for the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles, which finished at 90% on the dot. A number of matches on this card scored in the mid-to-high 80% range. Tied at 87% were the Eight-Man Tag as well as Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mike Awesome. Just behind that was the Tag Team Street Fight at 86%, while the Losing Faction Must Disband Ten-Man Tag earned an 85% score. Two matches did end up in the high 70% range. Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash finished with a score of 79%, while the WCW Women's Title bout between Amy Dumas and Lisa Marie Varon wound up with a score of 78%. Again, the final score was slightly down from the previous PPV, but I thought the majority of the matches performed as expected.
This was a card that I had to shuffle around a couple of times before I came to something that I liked. I had some of the top matches down and ready to go already, but when I was working on my PPV lineups, I was having some trouble putting together an undercard that I liked. Fortunately, I was finally able to make changes that I felt were satisfying. In terms of title changes, we got a couple of new champions in the form of The Dudley Boyz and Lisa Marie Varon. Meanwhile, Rob Van Dam and Sting both picked up falls in their respective bouts, setting up potential title matches down the line. In terms of the Tournament Of Champions, the three winners from this show were Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, and Scott Steiner. This means that those three will do battle in a Three-Way to decide who will challenge for the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title at Starrcade in December. Finally, in the main event, Kurt Angle would retain his title over Chris Benoit by a margin of three submissions to two after the match went into an overtime period. Angle offered Benoit a handshake after both had recovered after bout. To the surprise of many, Benoit shook Angle's hand, seemingly putting their feud to bed (for now).
That's all I've got for United We Stand!! Tune in next time as we cover the big one....the final PPV of 2001....and the biggest show of the year....Starrcade!! |
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on May 1, 2023 6:00:01 GMT 1
The post on United We Stand should now be (hopefully) fully updated.
|
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on May 30, 2023 4:06:00 GMT 1
So my plan is to have the Starrcade 2001 post up by Wednesday Night (last day of the month), but I'll give you all an announcement with a teaser mixed in.
The main event of Starrcade 2001 will be TLC II for the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles. Edge & Christian. The Dudley Boyz. The Hardy Boyz.
HOWEVER.....there will more than just championships on the line in this one. I'll leave it at that.
|
|
|
|
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Jun 1, 2023 4:38:28 GMT 1
Part XLVIII: WCW Starrcade 2001
We are in truly uncharted territory. It's the tail end of 2001, and WCW is still alive and kicking. One of the highlights of WCW over the last few years has been the incredible tag team division. More specifically, the three teams that had been the consistent faces of the tag team division for the last few years have been Edge and Christian, The Dudley Boyz, and The Hardy Boyz. In 1999, we saw Edge and Christian do battle with The Hardy Boyz many times, including in a Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc 1999 and a Steel Cage Match at Starrcade 1999. Once The Dudley Boyz came into the picture and established themselves as a force to be reckoned with, the tag team division got even crazier. Starrcade 2000 saw the three teams go to war in a Triangle Ladder Match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. Just a few months later at Uncensored 2001, they would go to war again, but this time in WCW's first-ever TLC Match. Well, as 2001 came to a close, these three teams would get intertwined once again. After capturing the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles from The Hardy Boyz in a Steel Cage Match at United We Stand, The Dudley Boyz almost immediately found challengers in the form of Edge and Christian. The winners of 2001 Crockett Cup decided that they were going to cash in their title shot on the December 3rd edition of Nitro, which just so happened to take place in their home city of Toronto! In front of a raucous hometown crowd, Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz to capture the titles for the fourth time. A big moment for them to say the least. With The Dudley Boyz looking for a rematch, and The Hardy Boyz still very much in the picture, it was decided that the three teams would do battle once again in the second-ever TLC Match at Starrcade 2001.However, the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles wouldn't be the only things on the line in this match. In order to get the maximum effort from all parties involved, and in order to settle things between these top tier tag teams once and for all, it was announced that the two teams who lost TLC II would be forced to disband!! The stakes could not possibly be any higher than this. Who will leave Starrcade with the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles, and which teams will be forced to break up?The finals of the Tournament Of Champions took place the night after United We Stand on the November 26th Nitro, and when the dust settled, Goldberg defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Scott Steiner to secure a shot at the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title. Of course, that meant he would be going up against his semi-regular tag team partner Kurt Angle. In the build to Starrcade, the two would team up in a series of tag team matches. While they managed to pick up victories over teams from The Radicalz (first Sabu and Taz, and then Sabu and The Sandman), tension started to form between the two as we got closer to the PPV. Losses in tag team action to both The Outsiders as well as Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon from The Jersey Triad led to tension between Angle and Goldberg. The two finally came to blows on the December 27th Thunder, and by this point, all eyes were on Starrcade in the Georgia Dome. Atlanta is home turf for Goldberg, but it's also the same city where Kurt Angle famously won his Olympic Gold Medal. Who will emerge victorious in the Georgia Dome when these two of the biggest stars in WCW collide for the promotion's top prize?!
Two major feuds involving championships that have been ongoing for months would come to an end at Starrcade. Christopher Daniels would defend the WCW Cruiserweight Title against AJ Styles in a Last Man Standing Match (with Allison Danger banned from ringside), while Chris Jericho would defend his WCW United States Title against Rob Van Dam in an I Quit Match. Not a ton to say about these two feuds that hasn't been said already. Two big stipulation matches with titles on the line. The men involved in both feuds would take part in a series of multi-person tag team matches on television in the buildup to the PPV (very much New Japan style). The only real thing to make note of is that Styles would bring in a new ally to partner with in his battles against Christopher Daniels and the rest of the Triple X Prophecy.....an extremely talented nineteen year old named Amazing Red.
TLC II wouldn't be the only match on this PPV that would showcase the incredible tag team division in WCW. The card would also feature a Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match with a future title shot on the line. Teams involved in the match include Bret Hart and Owen Hart, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero (representing The Radicalz), Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. (representing The Filthy Animals), as well as the duo of Lance Storm and William Regal. Now while both Regal and Storm are still members of The Radicalz, they've gone on to form a subunit within the group called The Professionals. As the name implies, this faction is focused on the art of professional wrestling (with a heelish slant of course), and puts what they do in the ring above all else. During the month of December, a third member would be introduced by Regal and Storm....a man who would serve as the understudy, or the protege of the group. His name? Bryan Danielson.
Lisa Marie Varon would defend her newly-won WCW Women's Title on this card in a Three-Way Match against former champions Amy Dumas and Trish Stratus. I don't have a ton to say about this one, Just a match featuring the current champion defending against two of the top women's stars in the company.In a special NOAH vs. WCW showcase match, Mitsuharu Misawa would return to WCW to go one-on-one with Mike Awesome. Again....not much explanation needed! It's Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Mike Awesome!The last two matches I have to go over involve a Battle Royal and a Tournament. First is the annual Starrcade Battle Royal. This is just continuing the tradition that I've had going since I first started this scenario on EWR. Some major stars are in the 2001 edition of the Starrcade Battle Royal, including Andrew Martin, Bam Bam Bigelow, Booker T, Buff Bagwell, Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon, Kevin Nash, Konnan, Perry Saturn, Raven, Ric Flair, Rick Steiner, Ron "The Truth" Killings, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner, Sting, The Giant, and many others. Elsewhere, the Starrcade Cup is back! This year, however, it's under a different format, as twenty-four men will be participating. The tournament itself is a standard single-elimination tournament format, with two separate three-way matches serving as the semifinals. It also has a big international flavor to it, with various different countries and nationalities being represented (it's a little wishy-washy with members of The FBI being involved, as you can imagine lol). Anyway, here's what the bracket looks like through the semifinals, with the winners in bold:2001 Starrcade Cup
First Round Big Vito vs. Taka Michinoku / Devon Storm vs. Masato Tanaka
Johnny The Bull vs. Hayabusa / Little Guido vs. Ultimo Dragon
Hector Garza vs. Jushin Thunder Liger / La Parka vs. Sean O'Haire
Steve Corino vs. Super Crazy / Chuck Palumbo vs. Psychosis
Fit Finlay vs. John Cena / Sabu vs. Tommy Dreamer
Juventud Guerrera vs. Shawn Stasiak / Jerry Lynn vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri
Quarterfinals
Big Vito vs. Masato Tanaka / Hayabusa vs. Little Guido / Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Sean O'Haire
Chuck Palumbo vs. Super Crazy / John Cena vs. Sabu / Juventud Guerrera vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri
Semifinals
Big Vito vs. Hayabusa vs. Sean O'Haire
Sabu vs. Super Crazy vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri
So as you can see, this tournament will be giving us a final that's a huge dream match....Hayabusa vs. Sabu! Given the (I guess you can say) chaotic nature of both wrestlers, it was decided that their Starrcade Cup Final would be a No DQ Match! Who will emerge victorious an win the 2nd annual Starrcade Cup?
I do have a few other title changes to touch on. The biggest of those involves the NWA World Heavyweight Title. On the November 26th Nitro, Sting challenged Rhino for the Ten Pounds Of Gold in a match where Dusty Rhodes served as the special guest referee. Despite attempts by members of The Radicalz to get involved, Sting managed to overcome the odds and defeated Rhino to capture the NWA World Heavyweight Title. The NWA World Tag Team Titles also changed hands, as on the very same Nitro, Kaientai won the titles from Sabu and The Sandman (clearly not a good night for The Radicalz). Finally, on the December 3rd Nitro, Lance Storm won the WCW Hardcore Title from Hurricane Helms.
With all of that finally out of the way, let's dive into the results from the final WCW PPV of 2001!
WCW Starrcade 2001December 30th, 2001 - Georgia Dome - Atlanta, Georgia1.) Starrcade Cup - Finals - No DQ Match - Hayabusa def. Sabu2.) #1 Contender's Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match - Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. def. The Hart Family (Bret Hart & Owen Hart), The Professionals (WCW Hardcore Champion Lance Storm & Undisputed WCW World TV Champion William Regal), & The Radicalz (Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero)3.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Last Man Standing Match - AJ Styles def. Christopher Daniels (c)4.) WCW Women's Title - Three-Way Match - Lisa Marie Varon (c) def. Amy Dumas & Trish Stratus5.) WCW United States Title - I Quit Match - Rob Van Dam def. Chris Jericho (c)6.) Starrcade Battle Royal - Winner: Kevin Nash7.) NOAH vs. WCW Dream Match - Mitsuharu Misawa def. Mike Awesome8.) Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title - Kurt Angle (c) def. Goldberg9.) Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles - TLC II - Losing Teams Must Disband - The Dudley Boyz def. Edge & Christian (c) and The Hardy BoyzFor Starrcade 2001, I got an overall score of 88%, which is just one percent down from United We Stand in November. Match Of The Night was a tie between TLC II for the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles and Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam in an I Quit Match for the WCW United States Titles. Both matches earned a scored of 99%. Not too far behind was Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles in a Last Man Standing Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Title, which got a 95% score. Also in the 90% range was the #1 Contender's Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match, which wound up with a score of 92%. From there, it's a pretty sizable drop to the next match (a whole 10% in fact). Both Kurt Angle vs. Goldberg for the Undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Title and the Three-Way for the WCW Women's Title finished with an 82% score, while Hayabusa vs. Sabu in the Starrcade Cup Finals got a 81%. The Starrcade Battle Royal wound up with a 79% score, and (surprisingly) Mike Awesome vs. Mitsuharu Misawa only managed to secure a score of 70%, which is quite disappointing considering the talents involved.
So while I would've liked for this PPV to have gotten a slightly higher overall rating, I still thought the show as a whole turned out very well. As far as the results are concerned, the big one was in the main event, as The Dudley Boyz won back the Undisputed WCW World Tag Team Titles. That means the teams of Edge & Christian and The Hardy Boyz will be forced to break up. They'll have a final match against each other before that split goes fully into effect, but after that, they're effectively done as teams after this loss. As for the other title bouts, Kurt Angle and Lisa Marie Varon retained their respective titles, while Rob Van Dam and AJ Styles captured the WCW United States Title and the WCW Cruiserweight Title respectively. Kevin Nash won the Starrcade Battle Royal, while Hayabusa vanquished Sabu to win the 2001 Starrcade Cup. Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr. also secured a future title shot by winning their #1 Contender's Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match.
Well that pretty much does it for 2001! It's probably been my favorite year to book out thus far, and it's worked out incredibly well, with many of my PPV level shows getting high marks. Up next will be the usual year end posts, which include TV Ratings, all title changes, and so on. |
|
